I've had a SPOT Satellite Messenger for about 6 months and really like it. I use it primarily when I sail to keep my friends updated on where I am, and if I'm safe.
I have always been a little annoyed that the only ways they could keep track of my course were to save the individual SMS'es or emails that were sent, or I had to give them my password to my private online account at the SPOT home page.
Recently, the folks at SPOT came out with the SPOT Shared Page to solve this problem. It's still a little rough around the edges, but it's far better than the previous solutions. The page contains a list of the last 24 hours worth of messenger check-ins on the left, and a Google Maps layout of the track on the right. You can click on the track to see more details.
Seems to be pretty reliable – does seem to be browser picky right now – Firefox doesn't seem to work sometimes, and Safari doesn't work at all. There are some annoying formatting issues as well as images that are missing in some areas. Hopefully they'll spruce some of this up as more folks find it – it is in beta as far as I understand it.
Here's an example:
A larger version of the image is available here.
SPOT Satellite Messenger Shared Page
Everyone is after me….
Above is a screen shot from my chart plotter at the end of the day when I was sailing/motoring back into Elliott Bay here in Seattle. The larger boat icon in the center with the compass wind indicator around it is me, the rest of the smaller boats with red lines emanating out of them are all of the AIS targets my system is warning me about.
I had 3 Washington State Ferries closing in on my area – two car ferries and one fast passenger ferry, one tour boat, and eventually 2 tugs, one of which was going faster than I was, and on a similar course. AIS here only showed 2 of the three ferries, the tour boat, and the tug.
I couldn't take any more pictures of the system becaue I had to pay attention at that point, but it was pretty nice to be able to sit in the cockpit hatchway and glance down to see what else was coming around the point behind the bluff.
I still haven't figured out a great way to use the notification system within the Garmin unit for AIS. It goes off far too much and alerts when there are boats nearby on AIS sitting still. Other programs that are software based have more granularity and allow you to only fire off an alert when specific conditions are met, such as intercept within a certain amount of minutes. I'm hoping Garmin will get to that soon.
Boatsense unit installed
Got a replacement Boatsense unit from the manufacturer, and installed it last week. No problems on the swap – took about 10 minutes, and everything tested out correctly. Set up my custom alert messsages and tested each alert by tripping the various sensors. No problems.
Took a while for the manufacturer to respond to my queries to get it repaired, and initially it was quite frustrating getting text messages for things that weren't broken at all hours of the day.
The technology is new, so I know there will be some bugs. Hopefully this will be the last of them for this particular piece of technology!
Remote vessel monitoring
For a long time I've dreamt of having a system that would send me an email or text message when there's something wrong. There are a lot of very high priced systems out there that you can purchase and for a monthly fee, have specific things monitored. Many of them are very bulky, require a lot of specialized hardware, and cost an arm and a leg.
Recently, I was reading a sailing magazine (forget which one) and saw a write-up on a new system called Boat Sense Solutions. The system seemed really well thought out, and was reasonably priced. The product is a cell phone based text message device that will monitor a number of items on your boat, and send you and your two closest friends text messages when things are awry.
After a bit of investigation, and questions to the manufacturer, which were answered very quickly, I bought the BSS2.1 version, a fire detector, and a dedicated bilge pump sensor. I ordered everything from one of their recommended vendors, Hamilton Marine, and it arrived super speedily.
The product is well documented with color diagrams and wiring instructions. The actual "radio" portion of the product is very ruggedly designed, and can be mounted outside the boat if desired. I mounted mine in the starboard side of the boat behind my chartplotter in an enclosed cavity.
In about an hour, I had the system up and running, monitoring my battery voltage, new bilge pump switch and fire detector. I sent a few text messages to the device to set up some of the options, and tested it by tripping the bilge switch and the fire detector. Within 30 seconds, my cell phone received a text message with the details of the alarm.
I plan on adding a couple of more relays – one to monitor the cabin temperature, and if it drops below 40 degrees, to alert of a potential freeze situation. The second would be a relay to monitor shore power availability.
For the price, and the flexibility of the device being able to work with normally open and closed circuits, it's well worth the peace of mind. I'd highly recommend this to anyone who wants to ensure their investment and have early warning of a severely flooded cabin, or worse.
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